Overload protection circuit for transistor amplifier



Oct. 29, 1968 N. s. NISHIOKA 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 18, 1964 NORMAN S. NISHIOKA INVENTOR. MM 3 ATTORNEYS Get. 29, 1968 3,408,589

T FOR TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIER N. 5- NISHIOKA OVERLOAD PROTECTION CIRCUI 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1964 FIG.2

NORMAN s. NISHIOKA INVENTOR WW, FAA/114W ATTORNEYS United States Patent This invention relates to transistor amplifiers and more 'specifically'to translstor amplifiers employing overload protection; circuitry. l In recent'years, transistors have been widely employed applications. One such appliplifier switch between two conductive statesone state being'terrned the on state and the other the off, state. Generally, the on state corresponds to that region wherein the collector electrode is drawing saturation current, and the OE state corresponds to the region in which thetransistor is cut off.

It is well krnown that the junctions in transistors are subject to damage and even destruction if the power dis- This can be seen y considering the fact that when the transistor is on or in saturation, the collector current jmay be high, but the collector-to-emitter voltageis relatively low, and in the oil? state the collector-to-emitter voltage may be high, but the collector current is substantially 'zero. In either case the power dissipation in the transistor junction is maintained within the maximum dissipation limit of the transistor. During the transition between the on and off states excess power dissipation could occur 'were it not for the fact that such transition is, in general, very rapid. -It may happen, however, under adverse conditions, that the transistor may be drawn out of its low dissipation cut-off or saturation re- 'gions into the class-A region in which the current and voltage are both relatively high. Excessive loads, short circuits or a lowered drive frequency dissipation within the transistor. When this occurs,- the their relatively slow response times.

' It is therefore 'a pation brought about by adverse operating conditions.

Another object of this invention, is to increase the speed'and reliability of transistor protection circuits.

In accordance with the teachings nected between the base electrode of each amplifier output transistor and ground potential. Under normal operating conditions the auxiliary transistor switches do shorting the base of .the

3,408,589 Patented Oct. 29, 1968 I 2 I not affect the operation of the amplifier. However, should one of the output transistors move out of the saturation region into its high-dissipation class-A region, the auxiliary transistor switch turns on regeneratively thereby output transistor to ground and causing it to turn off before damage can occur.

G. 1 is a schematic diagram of a. preferred embodiment of the present invention; and I ,1 FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of the voltage waveforms at various points within the embodiment of FIG. 1 under dilferentoperating conditions.

Referring more specifically to the sistors, connected in the manner of a push-pull power amplifier. The collector electrodes of output transistors through output transformer 10 and 2 are connected to a common or ground potential through a nonlinear conducting device 12 such as a semiconductor diode.

The input signal to be amplified is provided by an input circuitry 13 which can comprise an oscillator, another amplifier, or other source of input signals. Coupling between input circu' 13 and the amplifier circuit is provided by input transformer 14. A first end of the secondary winding of input transformer as PNP unction transistors are connected of a resistor 23 and capacitor 24.

The operation of the circuit of FIG. 1 described with reference to FIG. 2 which ticalscale of waveforms E and E is different than that of E3 and E4;

Under normal operating conditions at time T the voltage at point E is equal to V and that at E is \V Output transistor 1 is in its on state, that is, it is biased to saturation due to the negative potential at its base elecrode.-The voltage IE at the collector of output transistor '1' is therefore only slightly less than zero (that is, E, is equal to the collector-to-emitter voltage drop plus the voltage drop across nonlinear conducting device 12). The other output transistor 2 is inits off state and its collector potential E is substantially equal to 2 As a consequence of these conditions, it is seen that auxiliary transistor 3 is in its off state due to the positive biasing potential at its base electrode derived from the voltage divider action of resistors.19.and 20. Auxiliary transistor 4, on the other hand, is in its on state by virtue of the negative potential at its base electrode obtained through the voltage divider action of resistors 22 and 23. Nonlinear conductingdevice 18 serves to block the positive voltage +V at point E from the" base electrode of output transistor 2. Auxiliary transistor 4 thus provides a low impedance path to ground for the base-to-collector leakage current of output transistor 2. A small cut-off bias potential to output transistor 2 is insured by the emitter voltage generated by the small voltage drop across nonlinear conducting device 12.

At time T the input signal changes phase and the voltage at point E changes from -V to +V The voltage at point E undergoes a negative transition to -V which voltage causes auxiliary transistor 3 to revert to its on state thereby placing the base of output transistor 1 at substantially ground potential and causing it to switch off. The positive voltage +V at point E is coupled through capacitor 24 to the base of auxiliary transistor 4, thereby overcoming the negative potential derived from point E through resistor 22. Auxiliary transistor 4, as a consequence, is turned off momentarily. During the time when auxiliary transistor 4 is off the negative potential V at point E is applied through resistor 17 and nonlinear conducting device 18 to the base of output transistor 2 therebyturning it on. If auxiliary transistor 4 is pulsed off for a time sufficient to allow output transistor 2 to reach saturation, then transistor 2 will remain in its on state for the remainder of the half cycle. This is apparent from the fact that when output transistor 2 is on its collector voltage E drops to near zero potential, and auxiliary transistor 4 is biased off by the positive potential at its base. At time T the input signal again changes phase and the switching process is repeated.

The operation of the circuit under overload conditions can be explained by first assuming that at time T the load current at utilization circuit 11 becomes excessive through a decrease in load resistance or a short circuit. At this moment output transistor 1 is on and is conducting saturation current. The increased load current in the secondary of output transformer 10 is reflected back through its primary winding causing output transistor 1 to come out of its saturation region. The collector voltage E thus increases (that is, becomes more negative) which negative change is fed back to the base of auxiliary transistor 3 causing it to turn on. The turn-on of auxiliary transistor 3 is regenerative in that, as it is turned on the biasing current of output transistor 1 is partially shunted to ground. This, in turn, causes the collector voltage E to become still more negative, and so on. The threshold level at which transistor 3 begins to turn on depends upon the characteristics of auxiliary transistor 3 and the relative resistances of resistors 19 and 20 as well as the value of +V At time T when the next half cycle begins, the voltage of point E makes a positive transition to +V and point E takes on a negative value -V Output transistor 2 will attempt to turn on as under normal operating conditions, explained above, but because of the excessive load reflected through output transformer 10, output transistor 4 2 will. notbeable to .reach itssaturation level.--Since the saturation level must be reached in order for auxiliary transistor 4 to remain off -for the full half cycle, it will remain on thereby depriving output transistor 2 of its base current.

Under conditions of overload, therefore,- output transistors 1 and 2 are protected fromexcessive collector current which might otherwise cause damage. Underthese conditions, the circuit functions to sample theeifective value of the load at the beginning of each halfcy'cle to determine if'it 'is istill'exces sive. Should the load again become normal, the amplifier circuit will automatically revert to normal operation.

In view' of the foregoing, it can be se'enlthat resistors 19 and 20 and resistors 22 and 23 are advantageously proportioned so that the voltages at their unctions,;that

of auxiliary transistors 3 and 4, are just sufficient'to begin to turn them on when thevolta'ge at poiritsE or E reaches its threshold level. Due to: the symmetry of'the embodiment of FIG. l'the'value's of resistors 19 and 22 and 20 and 23, respectively, will generally be equal. As mentioned above, capacitors 21and 24 provide the capacitive coupling between input transformer 14 and the base electrodes of auxiliary transistors 3 and 4. The' RC time constant of these capacitors and their associated'resistors 19 and 20, and 22 and 23 determine the time at the beginning of each half cycle during which auxiliary transistors 3 and 4 are held off. The duration of this turn-off" time interval is governed by several factors. First, the minimum time interval is determined by the magnitude of the collector supply voltage V5 the minimum value of V the inherent turn-off times of auxiliary transistors 3 and 4, and the inherent turn-on times of output transistors 1 and 2. Secondly, the maximum time interval is determined by the maximum permissible peak power dissipation that output transistors 1 and '2 can safely withstand. i

If the effective load presented by utilization circuit 11 is normal, but the frequency of the input signal derived from input circuit 13 decreases, output transistors land 2 can again be subjected to excessive power dissipation. For example, if the low frequency response of input transformer 14 is poor, the voltage appearing at its secondary at points E and E droopsat its trailing edges somewhat as shown by the waveforms in FIG. 2 beginning at time T When the magnitude of the input signal becomes too low the output transistor which is biased to saturation (at time T this corresponds to output transistor 1) .will start' to move into its high-dissipation class-A region because of decreased base drive current. The same istrue if output transformer 10 has a poor low frequency response characteristic. In FIG. 2 the time at which this happens corresponds to T In either case, when the collector voltage E of output transistor 1 reaches the threshold level auxiliary transistor 3 will be turned on regeneratively as previously explained. As auxiliary transistor 3 is turned on, output transistor 1 is turned off before damaging power dissipation can occur. 7 In all cases it is understood that the above-described arrangement is merely illustrative of one of the many embodiments of the present invention. Numerous: and varied other arrangements can be readily devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit aha scope of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims. I

I claim:

1. An amplifier comprising, in combination, a pair of output transistors, each of said transistors having an emitter, a collector and a base electrode, means for applying a rectangular wave input signal to the base electrodes of sa d transistors in opposite phase, meansfor coupling said emitter electrodes to a common junction, means for applying a direct-current supply voltage to said collector electrodes, a pair of auxiliary switching transistors, each is, the base electrodes having base and collector electrodes respectively coupled to the collector and base electrodes of a diflerent one of the output transistors and an emitter electrode coupled said output transistors, a direct-current collector supply source connected between said primary center-tap and a common junction, a utilization circuit connected to said secondary winding, nonlinear conductance means for conand a centerta-pped secondary means for connecting said secondary center-tap to said common junction, and a pair of switching devices coupled to the collector associated transistor.

3. A signal amplifier operating in the switching mode and comprising, in combination, a pair of output trana direct-current collector supply source connected between said primary center-tap and a common junction, a uti- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1967 Jahn FOREIGN PATENTS 154,589 10/1963 U.S.S.R.

ROY LAKE, Primary Examiner. NATHAN KAUFMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AMPLIFIER COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A PAIR OF OUTPUT TRANSISTORS, EACH OF SAID TRANSISTORS HAVING AN EMITTER, A COLLECTOR AND A BASE ELECTRODE, MEANS FOR APPLYING A RECTANGULAR WAVE INPUT SIGNAL TO THE BASE ELECTRODES OF SAID TRANSISTORS IN OPPOSITE PHASE, MEANS FOR COUPLING SAID EMITTER ELECTRODES TO A COMMON JUNCTION, MEANS FOR APPLYING A DIRECT-CURRENT SUPPLY VOLTAGE TO SAID COLLECTOR ELECTRODES, A PAIR OF AUXILIARY SWITCHING TRANSISTORS, EACH HAVING BASE AND COLLECTOR ELECTRODES RESPECTIVELY COUPLED TO THE COLLECTOR AND BASE ELECTRODES OF A DIFFERENT ONE OF THE OUTPUT TRANSISTORS AND AN EMITTER ELECTRODE COUPLED TO SAID COMMON JUNCTION, EACH OF SAID AUXILIARY SWITCHING TRANSISTORS BEING OPERATIVE TO SWITCH THE ASSOCIATED OUTPUT 